August 6, 2023

Transfiguration of the Lord

by Fr. Boniface Endorf, O.P

Dear St. Joseph Parish Family,

Today we celebrate the Transfiguration of the Lord. Normally today would be the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, but because it falls on a feast day of our Lord, Transfiguration trumps the normally scheduled Sunday. This feast is special to our parish because of our fresco of the Transfiguration in the church. It’s the oldest true fresco in the United States! May God’s light shine in our hearts this Feast of the Transfiguration!

Our perpetual adoration chapel is open! Last Sunday Cardinal Dolan blessed the chapel and now it’s fully functional. We’re currently working on filling up the adoration slots, which will likely take some months, but we’ll get there. This chapel will bring many graces to St. Joseph’s and to our city. I’m excited to see what our Lord works through this chapel.

This Tuesday is the Solemnity of St. Dominic, our patron. Because you attend a Dominican parish, he is your patron in addition to the friars’ patron. Make sure to ask for his intercession on your behalf because his prayers are powerful.

God Bless,
Fr. Boniface

Mass Tidbit:

Continuing with the first set of names in the Roman Canon, we continue with:

-Lawrence: A deacon in Rome who was martyred in AD 258. During a persecution of Christians in Rome, the authorities demanded that Lawrence turn over the treasures of the Church, to which Lawrence assented. Lawrence then brought forward the poor and said “Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to show you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the Church’s crown.” In return the Roman authorities roasted Lawrence alive and thus he is often depicted next to a gridiron. He’s reported to have said, in the best tradition of saintly gallows humor, ‘turn me over, I’m done on that side.’ Lawrence became, next to Sts. Peter and Paul, a patron of the Church in Rome.

-Chrysogonus: An important early Roman martyr. He was martyred under the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of the Church between AD 303-311, being decapitated and his body thrown in the sea. He was a layman and catechist.

-John and Paul: Not the Apostles, but brothers who were officers in the Roman army and were martyred under the Emperor Julian the Apostate in AD 362.

-Cosmas and Damian: Another set of saintly brothers. They were doctors and known as the ‘moneyless ones’ because they refused to charge fees for treating patients. They were Arabian by descent and suffered martyrdom in Syria in either AD 287 or 303. Devotion to them quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire, East and West, and they are now the patron saints of doctors, nurses, surgeons, dentists, and, surprisingly, confectioners.